SOUTHFIELD, Mich. — A missed excavation ticket can become more than a job site problem.
It can put workers, bystanders, and communities at risk.
That was one of the central lessons from the Construction Safety Research Center (CSRC) meeting held on May 19 at Lawrence Technological University. The meeting brought together construction, utility, insurance, workwear, contractor association, and state safety leaders to campus, with a focus on preventing injuries, utility strikes, and costly job-site failures before work begins.
The meeting featured speakers from LTU, MISS DIG 811, CNA Insurance, Carhartt, AGC Michigan, and MIOSHA. Together, they explored the decisions that shape construction safety every day: filing an 811 ticket, verifying underground utility marks, training crews, documenting corrective actions, managing subcontractors, preparing for heat stress, and responding to changing regulatory expectations.
CSRC Director Ahmed Al-Bayati opened the CSRC meeting with updates and closed by reinforcing the center’s role in connecting construction safety research with industry practice.
“Construction safety improves when research, industry experience, and field practice come together,” he said. “This meeting brought together people who see safety from different angles but share one goal: preventing construction incidents and helping workers go home safely.”
Fred Zorn, city administrator, City of Southfield, was excited to learn more about construction safety and described LTU as a phenomenal partner.
“We are so fortunate to have them here,” he said. “What we’re doing with construction, safety, and training is important. When I look at who’s at the table, the major utility companies, MISS DIG 811 was here, Barton, Carhartt, very large contractors and even small, general contractors. We’re all putting together our best practices for the safety and benefit of everyone.”
The numbers show both the progress and the challenge.
MISS DIG 811 coordinates more than 1.5 million jobs annually in Michigan, with 99% completed without damage. But the remaining 1% still represents more than 6,400 preventable incidents each year. CEO Nick Bonstell used statewide data and a Michigan case study to show how one missed step before excavation can have consequences far beyond a single work site. In one case presented during the meeting, a contractor working on a hydrology project in Fennville struck a high-pressure gas main without a MISS DIG 811 ticket. The line, running at about 700 PSIG, was the sole feed into Fennville, Saugatuck, and Douglas. The response involved nearly 200 employees working 16-hour days for five days or more, and more than 4,211 meters were affected.
The lesson is clear: construction safety is not only about reacting well when something goes wrong. It is about building the habits, systems, and communication that prevent the incident from happening in the first place.
“Each one of those preventable incidents could be a building explosion,” Bonstel said. “It could be an injury to an excavator. It could be an injury to a bystander. We want to make sure we eliminate all of those from the system.”
Dennis Jones, construction risk control consultant with CNA Insurance, brought the insurance and risk management perspective to the discussion. His presentation emphasized that insurance carriers look for more than written safety policies. They look for evidence that safety is actively managed, consistently enforced, and integrated into daily operations.
Jones outlined what carriers evaluate in construction accounts, including safety programs, training, management accountability, incident investigation with corrective action, fleet safety management, loss trends, and risk transfer. His presentation also emphasized that strong insurance outcomes follow disciplined risk management and leadership commitment in construction operations.
Several themes from the meeting pointed in the same direction: safety culture is not what an organization says it values when work is easy. It is what leaders, supervisors, and crews do when schedules tighten, conditions change, and production pressure rises.
The meeting also featured three presentations that connected safety research to field conditions, legislation, and regulatory priorities:
Construction safety is rarely solved by a single rule, tool, or training session. It depends on supervisors who communicate, workers who are equipped and heard, companies that learn from near misses, public systems that share reliable information, and leaders who treat prevention as part of the work rather than an interruption of it.
The meeting highlighted the center’s broader research agenda, including work focused on frontline supervisors, personal protective equipment noncompliance, the Hispanic construction workforce, smaller construction firms, prequalification for safety, experience modification rates, and tailored incident investigation.
By bringing those voices together, CSRC continues its work of moving construction safety from research to practice, and from good intentions to safer days on the job.
“Research to practice is very important,” said Darryl Hill, environmental health and safety program director, Oakland University. “I would encourage anyone to partner with Lawrence Tech. They are doing a great job.”
Karly St. Aubin, a board member of local nonprofit safety organizations, agrees.
“The CSRC is incredibly important because without the foundation of research in the field, we really cannot make an impact or progress in safety and industry,” she said. “Research is the foundation for everything that professionals like me take out and spread. So you can’t say enough how important it is.”
Lawrence Technological University’s Construction Safety Research Center advances research, education, and industry collaboration to improve construction site safety. The center works with industry leaders, municipalities, associations, and agencies to develop practical, data-driven solutions that help control workplace risk, protect workers, and strengthen safety culture. Its work focuses on turning research findings into adoptable best practices and training that support safer job sites.
Lawrence Technological University is one of only 13 independent, technological, comprehensive doctoral universities in the United States. Located in Southfield, Mich., LTU was founded in 1932, and offers more than 100 programs through its Colleges of Architecture and Design, Arts and Sciences, Business and Information Technology, Engineering, and Health Sciences, as well as Specs@LTU—offering the communication programs of the former Specs Howard School—and LTU’s growing Center for Professional Development. PayScale lists Lawrence Tech among the nation’s top 11% of universities for alumni salaries. Forbes and The Wall Street Journal rank LTU among the nation’s top 10%. U.S. News and World Report lists it in the top tier of best Midwest colleges. LTU is also listed in the Princeton Review’s “America’s Best 391 Colleges 2026,” which includes the nation’s top 15% of four-year colleges and universities. Students benefit from small class sizes and a real-world, hands-on, “theory and practice” education with an emphasis on leadership. Activities on Lawrence Tech’s 107-acre campus include more than 60 student organizations and NAIA varsity sports.